“Microsoft is in deep trouble, their two main product lines are failing, and the blame game is intensifying,” Charlie Demerjian writes for SemiAccurate. “Steve Sinofsky gets the blame this time for the failure of Windows 8, but the real problem is the patterns that are so clearly illustrated by these actions.”

“Microsoft is largely irrelevant to computing of late, the only markets they still play in are evaporating with stunning rapidity,” Demerjian writes. “Their product lines have stagnated, creating customer lock in is prioritized over creating customer value, and the supply chain is controlled by an iron fisted monopoly. Any attempt at innovation with a Windows PC has been shut out for over a decade, woe betide anyone who tried to buck that trend.”

Demerjian writes, “In the end, Windows advanced only to the point of undercutting any competition, and even then to the minimum extent possible. The rules in Redmond were, “Do not change anything unless it is to crush someone doing something innovative”. They didn’t unless they did, and it worked. And the market stagnated… In such a situation, a company has two choices, both of which are quite stark. They can radically change their ways or they can wither and die. Before you point to Windows 8 and say, ‘But they are changing and innovating,’ hold off a moment, it isn’t what you think… Even if they wanted to, they are culturally far beyond the point of being able to. What was a slow bleed of marketshare is now gushing, and management is clueless, intransigent, and myopic. Game over, the thrashing will continue for a bit, but it won’t change the outcome. Microsoft has failed.”

Our initial impression is that Microsoft, in trying to cram everything into Windows 8 in an attempt to be all things to all devices, will end up with an OS that’s a jack of all trades and a master of none (which, after all, ought to be Microsoft’s company motto)… We simply do not see the world clamoring for the UI of an iPod also-ran now ported to an iPhone wannabe that nobody’s buying to be blown up onto a PC display.

From what we’ve seen so far, Windows 8 strikes us as an unsavory combination of Windows Weight plus Windows Wait.

Not to mention that probably no one on earth knows how much or what kinds of residual legacy spaghetti code roils underneath it all (shudder)… No matter what, if Microsoft’s going to ask Windows sufferers to “learn a whole new computer” (and that’s exactly how they’ll look at it, regardless of how Microsoft pitches it), millions will simply say, “Time to get a Mac to match my iPod, iPhone, and iPad!”

As we have always said, even as many short-sightedly waved (and continue to wave) the white flag, the war is not over. And, yes, we shall prevail… No company is invincible. Not even Microsoft. – MacDailyNews Take, January 10, 2005

Microsoft is huge. It will take a hell of a lot of problems for them to “fail”. MS product lines will ebb and flow over time. They have such a huge market share that any problems will not likely be as significant as the author of the article is saying. Just like for Apple, Microsoft is always at the mercy of its customers. If enough people like the products being made, they will buy them, if they don’t they won’t. This is true for MS, AAPL, and any other company out there. Besides, lets be professional about the misfortunes of others and not beat them when they are “down”. When you judge others, you judge Apple too.

That’s the type of complacent thinking that WILL lead to Microsoft’s downfall. In the 80’s and 90’s, Microsoft thought of themselves as the underdogs, with something to prove. And they became powerful (and influential).

Now, they live in the Redmond fantasyland where they are too big and powerful to fail. And they are slowly failing and becoming irrelevant…

After it’s own decade of complacency (and near-bankruptcy), Apple became the most valuable public company in the world, yet they still have the underdog mentality. MDN is just a very small corner of the web. In the “real world,” it’s the popular media that takes every opportunity to “beat down” on Apple.

All this is evidence of the general principle that success will spoil the self-satisfied, self-entitled, entrenched elite.

Once vital, they decay owing to mental weakness and a failure to understand that staving off hungry pretenders requires that you remain hungry yourself, rather than continually congratulating yourself that you own the planet and that no one else besides you has offered anything that consumers might want.

True. I see that as their salvation and identity ten years down the road. They can maintain a significant position in the gamer market even as their corporate IT presence fades; already, their home PC market is circling the drain. The dragon’s breath is quickening, but sees a haven beyond today’s moribund office setting.

You realise that a good portion – I’m not saying all, but a large portion – of this problem could have been avoided if Microsoft treated Windows 8 as a stepping stone OS, which slowly introduced the concepts, and then Windows 9 could be the full blown radical version.

For instance, I would have included a START button in the bottom left corner. And also had some tiny little marked on the left and right edges to signify that the charms bars were hiding at the edges. Just these two tiny inclusions might have avoided a lot of the confusion. Sure, these aren’t the most elegant options, but they’re solely intended to ease the Windows world into the new paradigm, and then the subsequent Windows 9 could have gotten rid of these artifacts once everyone was used to them. No, instead, Steve Sinofsky’s abrasive personality said, Stuff it, make them jump into deep water and swim. Well. There you go.

Hell hasn’t frozen over yet. It’s just this one guy. Or maybe 2 or 3 guys. Or…maybe it’s just a fun fad. Or…loyalists fuming about carrying water for Microsoft for years and then getting shafted… Or OEM licensees bailing out, or expats and jilted partners sounding off… Or all the talented leadership being keelhauled… Or the last defenders’ voices sounding increasingly shrill and unconvincing…

Maybe not cold down in Hell yet, but cold from the approaching iceberg…

More than anything else, this story confirms the blunder of converting Apple into a mobile device company instead of continuing to produce real computers – MacPro computers – and rake in the incredible corporate and government markets that were ready to make the switch. But, no… instead Apple turned to the volatile and momentary lucrative demand for gadgets.

I told you to GET OFF THE ACID ppeterson. That’s TWO tabs you’ve taken today.

Apple has gotten screwed, screwed, screwed by Enterprise IT doofuses for decades. They gave it a long, brave try with Mac OS Server and the XServe series. There were a few kewl peaks of interest. But it never caught on. Apple pulled their RAID server gear. The next year (that’s THIS year, 2012) the XServe died the death from lack of sales.

Be glad the Mac Pro lives on. It’s NOT gonna die. There are plenty of us who would LYNCH Apple if they killed the Mac Pro. And it DOES make a profit for Apple.

IOW: Shut up ppeterson until you’ve come down from your bad trip.

OH AND: You might try posting as something OTHER than an anonymous coward.

Momentary?
You realize that the market for desktop PCs is shrinking? People are not replacing them as often because the one they have is adequate. A family can do with only one or two desktop PCs, and at work they can be shared too.

By contrast, a “gadget” as you call them is truly a personal device. Everyone has their own phone and their own tablet. Read Asymco.com, the numbers are astounding… These new platforms or phone and tablet have the potential of outgrowing the PC installed base very quickly. The numbers new activations are already exponentially greater than sales of new desktop PCs.

The fact is that desktop PCs are being replaced by the smaller devices as the general purpose computing device of choice, and desktop PCs are relegated to more and more specialized tasks performed by the few.

Apple already recognized that years ago, and developed “Mac OS on ARM” (iOS) in anticipation. Apple really is years ahead, but no-one seems to realize it. The greatest secret is that you get something called an i”Phone” but really get a pocket Mac with a phone app.